


Sometimes You're Wrong

by TheMoo



Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 09:04:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18443381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMoo/pseuds/TheMoo
Summary: This is a sequel to my "Be Specific When You Lie".  The Moo thanks Rocketscientists for bringing to her/Gibbs' attention that a quick fix to a problem may have unexpected, unhappy consequences. Poor Tony, indeed. Never thought I'd have to "fix-it" my own fic, but this must be attended to, forthwith.





	Sometimes You're Wrong

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rocketscientists](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rocketscientists/gifts).



Rule 45. Clean up the mess you make.

And Gibbs thought he had done just that.

Last week he thought he had fixed Tony’s funk. It went well enough that day: Tony needed to cry and Gibbs let him. Tony later needed to get drunk, puke, then sleep it all off, all of which Gibbs supervised. And successfully so, with minimum damage to carpet and furniture. And that should have been the end of it.

But it wasn’t.

Tony could be moody – Gibbs knew that well enough. Bouncing around like a puppy one minute and going all hangdog the next. But hangdog was lasting too long this time. Tony was going longer than usual without a movie quote, without a goofy grin, without a practical joke. Indeed, without any cause for a head slap, and Gibb’s palm fairly ached to smack the young man.

So, what did I do wrong? 

Gibbs didn’t like second guessing himself. From time to time over the years he had considered making that a rule. Seventeen was available. New rule: don’t second guess yourself. But he had always held off because that contradicted rule fifty-one. Sometimes you’re wrong. 

So wrong, and yet it had seemed so right at the time. Tony was upset because Gibbs told him not to die. Fine. Say it never happened. Make the young man happy. So why is he still glum?

Watching Tony tap listlessly at his computer, Gibbs pondered. How could he fix a problem if he didn’t know what it was? Last week Tony made it easy by blurting out what was bothering him. Nothing like a good blurt to define an issue. Too bad there wasn’t one forthcoming now.

Nothing for it but to ask.

Gibbs steeled himself with a quick shrug of his shoulders, got out of his chair and went over to Tony’s desk. He touched the young man on the shoulder and once he had Tony’s attention, tilted his head towards the corridor outside the squad room. Tony followed him to the corner by the stairwell, where relative privacy could be sought, if not always assured.

“Spill it,” Gibbs ordered.

Tony only looked down, like a schoolboy confronted by a stern housemaster. You can take the boy out of boarding school, but you can’t take boarding school out of the boy, Gibbs mused, and then said, “Well?” 

Tony only stood there. 

Gibbs expected him to kick at the floor, to further the similarity to a child, but Tony had the presence of mind to at least keep his feet under control. But he wasn’t able to control the expression of sadness on his face.

Then Tony’s eyes met Gibbs’ own. “Yeah, I just . . . I mean . . . I can’t . . . damn, this is embarrassing.”

“You don’t ever have to be embarrassed to tell me anything, DiNozzo. You know that.”

“Yeah, I know, Boss. I can’t stop thinking about that day when I thought you talked to me and told me not to die. And then you didn’t. I was so relieved at first, but then it started to bother me. It sort of felt good that you would care so much about me. That you would defy Death for me. And then when I learned it never happened, I didn’t know what to think anymore. Okay, it’s all stupid.”

Gibbs wondered whether there was any way out of this without getting mushy. Probably not, but it was worth a try. 

“Tony”, Gibbs began, using Tony’s first name as he seldom did, “I lied. I did say it. I said it twice.”

“I don’t get it, Boss. You lied when you said you lied? You lied when you said you didn’t say it? So you’re saying that you really said it?” The sadness in Tony was replaced by a look of total confusion. “First you said it. Then you didn’t say it. Then you did.”

“Well, yeah.”

A bit of a smile came to Tony’s mouth, though it didn’t quite break through his entire face. “First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is. You’re channeling Donovan, Boss.”

“Happens.”

“And did you smack me?”

“Oh yeah. Had to make sure I had your attention. You were close to packing it in.”

“ I dunno. You keep changing the story. How do I know you’re telling the truth now?”

“Women keep calling for Spanky,” Gibbs said. 

“That’s what I thought you said when you gave me the phone. But if I hallucinated it all, then you can’t know what I thought you said. So you have to have said it.” Tony clutched at his forehead, and mimicked Gumby from Monty Python. “My brain hurts.”

“And just so that we’re clear, Tony. You have to remember that you didn’t give up. You hung in there.”

“But . . . did I have a choice? It matters to me. I want to know.”

Gibbs allowed himself a smile. “You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need.”

Tony squeezed his eyes shut and extended his arms. “What if I need a hug?” he said, sheepishly.

Seeing the importance of it, Gibbs provided one.

End


End file.
